


5 Mundane Superhero Skills Her Friends Taught Kara and One They Didn't Have To

by tptigger



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: 5 Things, 5 Times, Gen, superhero training is evergreen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 07:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13542477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tptigger/pseuds/tptigger
Summary: Superheros need to know about fighting and using their powers, but sometimes they also need to know about more mundane things like sign language, cpr, and tying knots.





	1. Talking to the Press

**Author's Note:**

  * For [litra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/gifts).



> The premise is all litra's from when she won the auction for my full length story for harvey_fanaid! Many thanks for helping.
> 
> Also many, many thanks to my long-suffering beta, ladyslvr, who I especially confused with the first pass of this story. I'm trying to work on the comma splices! Really I am!

Kara got home from her disastrous first interview with Cat Grant as Supergirl and resisted the urge to bang her head against the wall in frustration--the last time she'd done that, it had cost $1000 to repair the hole. Instead, she changed into her pajamas, pulled a quilt over her legs and reached for her laptop.

She'd let it spill that Supergirl and Superman were cousins. Someone was bound to ask Clark, so she should really give him a heads up. Kara signed onto IM and stared at her computer, trying to will herself to click on Clark's name.

Instead she turned on the TV, skimming through her Netflix queue for something to inspire her to bravery.

An IM window appeared:

Clark: Something you want to tell me?

Kara ducked her head, burying it in a pillow. Not that it would help--it was a chat window, and not a video chat. At least Clark couldn't see the blush she felt growing in her cheeks. Also because typing fast was significantly more normal than talking at full speed.

Kara: Several things. Is there somewhere you want me to start?

Clark: A CatCo correspondent caught up with me after a bank robbery, but didn't want to talk about the crime or the hostages--they wanted me to confirm that Supergirl was my cousin. I thought you wanted to keep it a secret?

Kara rubbed the back of her neck, pulling herself back together.

Kara: Cat strongarmed her way into me giving her an interview, and then she started haranguing me, asking me all sort of personal questions, and "Nobody ever asks my cousin these questions" came out.

Kara closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Then she opened them, took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then shifted onto her back with her laptop tucked against her knees.

Clark: Those sort of slips happen to the best of us--and reporters live for them. (In a lovely bit of karma, I've pushed a few interview subjects into them myself.)

Kara's jaw dropped. _Clark Kent_ slipped up with the press? He was a reporter!

Kara: You're always so poised; I don't know how you do it.

Clark: Remind me to pull up some YouTube videos of my first couple interviews for you sometime. Or ask Jimmy, he probably has them bookmarked. ;)

Kara snorted. James didn't seem the type to lord one's awkwardness over them. Then again, Clark was way smoother than Kara most of the time anyway. Or maybe that had come with practice.

Kara: Any tips for how to get better faster?

Clark: Let me see what I can dig up.

* * *

A couple hours and an entire pizza later, Kara checked her email to find an invitation from Dropbox.  
The note attached said: 

_Kara-_

_Here are my journalism school notes on interviewing techniques- with my annotations on how to duck them (some from experience as a cub reporter from others trying to get around them, some from trial and error myself). There's also an export of my bookmarks for "how to talk to the press"- some of the sites on Google are more helpful than others._

_You know that Neil Gaiman quote about librarians finding you the right answer? One in Metropolis really did. I ended up buying a copy. I'll drop that one in the mail in a day or two (insanity permitting.)_

_Let me know if you have questions; just because I had to learn the hard way doesn't mean you should!_  


_Best of luck,_

_Clark_

Kara smiled.


	2. Sign Language

Supergirl winced as she saw the two girls trussed up in the corner as she broke through the skylight of the warehouse. She alit near them and broke the ropes.

"You need to go," she whispered.

One girl ran the moment she was free. The other's hands started flying.

She kept tapping her forehead with her thumb, tapping her forefingers on her mouth and then her left palm, and then pointing.

Kara glanced behind her, but saw nothing but a solid metal door. She tried to used her x-ray vision, but the door was made of lead.

The girl tapped her.

"I don't speak sign language, I'm sorry." Kara asked. "I don't understand. The way out is that way, let's go before someone comes looking for you."

The girl moved her hands, her face scrunched in frustration.

There was a rush of air and the creak of hinges. "Not so fast, Supergirl," a voice came from behind her.

Kara whirled. Damnit, he must've been watching somehow... there, a camera just above the door.

"Supergirl, what's going on?" Alex asked over the comms.

"Who are you?" she asked, stepping in front of the girl. She didn't want to risk the man firing; if he'd thought to hide behind a lead door wired with a camera, what else might be up his sleeve? "Really? A gun? That door trick was pretty clever--you know I can't see through lead, but not that I'm faster than a speeding bullet?"

The man made a show of cocking his rifle. "And you thought, what, I'd just tell you my evil plan?"

Kara was vaguely aware of shuffling noises behind her--the girl was hiding amongst the boxes, which was good. However, Kara was pretty sure that the gunman could hear her, too. She wasn't being stealthy about it.

"Backup is on its way, Supergirl, hang tight," Alex said in her ear.

"Let the girl go; this is between us," Supergirl said. She'd be a lot less concerned if there wasn't someone to get caught in the crossfire. The boxes wouldn't offer any protection from a gunshot.

A high pitched wailing cut through the warehouse. The man doubled over.

Kara dashed over, grabbed the gun and turned on the safety, then turned around. She needed to find the girl; she was probably passed out from the noise.

DEO agents swarmed in.

"Are you out of your minds? There's a civilian in here!" Kara barked.

Two of them were already handcuffing the gunman.

An agent stopped across from her, and Vazquez removed her helmet, shaking out her hair. "Her mom works at the warehouse, she and the sister were outside. The girl's deaf, she won't have been affected by the noise."

Kara sighed. "She won't hear us calling either. She went behind the boxes."

Vasquez holstered her gun and strode towards the boxes. "She just popped behind one; I think she's scared."

Supergirl used her x-ray vision. "I see her, give me a second."

Supergirl walked within the boxes and jumped at a tentative tap on her arm. She whirled, then smiled as she recognized the girl.

"Come on." Kara reached out a hand. "It's safe now."

The girl took Supergirl's hand and let herself be led.

"You said her mom was outside?" Supergirl asked Vasquez.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"I'll take her," Supergirl said.

"I've got this," Vasquez said. "Director Henshaw wants a word." She pointed to the other side of the warehouse.

Kara turned to the young girl, speaking slowly and enunciating so that her lips would be easy to read. "Vasquez is going to help you find your mom, OK?"

The girl nodded and reached out for Vasquez's hand.

Agent Vasquez's eyebrows shot up, but she took the girl's hand and led her towards the exit.

Supergirl went to see what Hank wanted.

* * *

She finally emerged from the building about twenty minutes later to a crowd of ambulances, police cars, and reporters.

She found the little girl sitting next to her mother, the mother's hands flying. The girl gestured back.

Kara walked up to the girl and her mother. "How are you?" Kara asked.

The girl tapped her chest with her thumb.

"Maddie says she's fine," her mother said.

Maddie brought her four fingers to her mouth, palm in, and moved them towards Kara.

"She says thank you. And so do I," the mom said.

"How do I say you're welcome?" Supergirl asked.

Maddie giggled.

"She does read lips," her mother said.

"I'm sorry that I didn't understand you earlier," Kara said. "I'm going to learn how to talk to you and people like you so it doesn't happen again."

Maddie held her arms open widely.

Kara needed no translation of that: she leaned down and gave the girl a hug.

"Supergirl," Hank Henshaw called.

"Coming," she called back.

Supergirl turned back to Maddie and her mother. "Take care of yourselves; I've got to go."

Maddie waved. 

"Thank you, Supergirl," her mother said.

"Anytime." With that, Supergirl jogged over to where Hank was waiting.

"Director Henshaw, is there someone at the DEO who can teach me sign language?"

"I'll see what I can do, but for now, the press wants a word."

"Right," Supergirl said. She drew in a deep breath, drawing on the book she'd been reading about giving interviews. Keep calm. Don't let herself get flustered. "That I can do."


	3. CPR

Supergirl tried not to slouch in uniform, but it was so hard as she stood in the DEO cavern, waiting for the training to begin. Hank and Alex had insisted she participate in the DEO first aid certification. Supergirl didn't think she needed to, but what choice did she have?

Really, she would have argued harder, but Alex had been totally right about her needing combat training, so Supergirl would go along. For now.

She stood with the other DEO agents, her sister and Hank included, staring at an ocean of test dummies and waiting for the instructor to show up.

Alex walked over, punching her in the shoulder. "Your heart's not in this."

"When am I going to have time to administer CPR on someone? Besides, we learned this in health class."

Alex crossed her arms. "I seem to remember you faking a sprained wrist to get out of the hands on training."

"I was afraid I'd break the school's dummy." Supergirl's arms went up in a half shrug.

"That's why Hank got extras." Alex grinned.

Kara blushed.

"Better dummies than a person," Alex said. "These dummies are specially calibrated to tell you if you're exerting enough pressure."

Kara felt her forehead crinkle against her will.

"Everyone here knows you're Kryptonian, Supergirl," Alex said. "Now is the perfect time to learn."

Supergirl just stared. "Since when did superheroes have time to give first aid when there are aliens trying to kill everyone in sight?"

"What if you stop a bank robbery and someone has a heart attack?" Alex asked.

Supergirl snorted. "What are the chances of that?"

* * *

Supergirl burst into the bank, snagging the bullets that the would-be bank robber fired at her.

He dropped the gun and pulled a knife.

Supergirl tilted her head in surprise. "Seriously? I can stop the bullets, and your response is a knife?"

The wanna-be just grinned. 

Supergirl was vaguely aware of someone crumpling behind one of the desks where people filled out various forms. At super speed, Kara dashed forward, pushed the man's hand outward, away from her until she overextended it and he yelped in pain, dropping the knife.

"I've got cuffs," one of the security guards said, dashing up and cuffing him.

"Ma'am, are you ok?" someone called out.

"You got him?" Kara asked.

The guard nodded.

Kara walked around the desk to find a pale faced man leaning over an woman in her 60s. "Does she have a pulse?"

He looked up.

"Vasquez," Kara said into her comm, "we need an ambulance; we have an unconscious woman in her 60s." Kara reached out, touching the vein in her neck. "I'm not getting a pulse and she's not breathing." She looked at the man. "Do you know CPR?"

"I do," A woman in her 20s wearing scrubs skidded to the woman's side. "I'm a nurse. I have a breath shield. Can you do chest compressions?"

Kara's breath hitched, but visions of the green lights for the last fifteen minutes of her training session came back to her. "Yes, I can."

"OK, I'll count for you," the nurse said.

Kara fell quickly into the rhythm, letting the nurse take care of the breathing and looking for a pulse; she was vaguely aware of the paramedics arriving.

"Get clear, Supergirl," someone said.

Kara pulled back. One of the paramedics had deployed a defibrillator without her noticing.

"Is anyone else hurt?" Kara asked.

A few other people were talking to the paramedics, but it seemed like they had everything under control.

A little girl crept up to Kara, holding tightly to what was likely her mother's cell phone. "Is she going to be okay, Supergirl?'

"Yes!" shouted the nurse.

"OK, patient is breathing, let's get her loaded up," said one of the paramedics.

"I think she might be," Supergirl said.

"You saved her."

"I think the paramedics saved her," Supergirl replied. "I just helped her hold on until the professionals could get here."

"Can we take a selfie?" the little girl asked.

"Amanda Grace, your manners," a man a little ways away said.

"Please?" Amanda added.

Supergirl grinned. Finally, something easy. "Sure!"


	4. Rope Skills

Kara floated up to the window. "OK, Winn, I see two guys in the warehouse."

"Maybe we should call in the DEO?"

Kara ducked below the window and started to shake her head; she stopped when she realized Winn couldn't see her through the comms. "For a couple of small time drug dealers? Honestly, Winn, if they hadn't been threatening that little girl, I wouldn't bother."

"Are you saying you refuse to participate in mass incarceration?" Winn asked.

"We can debate that book you lent me later." Kara floated downward, landing silently on the ground. "For right now, I want to make sure the kids two blocks over aren't afraid to play hopscotch anymore. These lunkheads told them it was dangerous and to get off the street or they'd break their legs!"

"To be fair, those dudes who came to sell them product sounded pretty shady," Winn said.

"These guys threatened to break little girls' legs, Winn!" Kara crept towards the warehouse door. "This is my city now, and we don't do that on my watch. I put a tracking thingy on their contacts' car. Alex can get the transponder signal to the police and they can figure things out from there. These guys are _mine_."

"Ok, be careful."

"Hey, it's me," Kara replied.

Kara thought she heard something muttered over the comm that sounded vaguely like "that's what I'm worried about."

She ignored it, slipping into the warehouse through the back door which was conveniently ajar.

Too conveniently; one of the guys she'd been following stepped out from behind the boxes. "You messed with the wrong gang, Supergirl. You should've stuck to saving white people on your own side of the tracks."

"I save everyone!" Supergirl said, punching the guy in the face. He went down.

Supergirl sighed. "I really should spend more time on this side of town."

"Kara: bad guy," Winn prompted.

"He's out." Kara surveyed the warehouse, looking for something to keep him from making trouble when he came to.

"I meant you shouldn't listen to him."

"What, even bad guys can have a point once in awhile." Kara rummaged through one of the crates. "Score." She found a rope half buried in a crate of miscellany. "I'll get this guy tied up and then go find his friend."

* * *

It took Kara 20 minutes of weaving in and out of the crates to find the guy's partner. He was sitting in a chair and reading a book. Kara weaved carefully between the crates, planning on taking him from behind. 

She paused and glanced over at the man to check his progress; their eyes met and he pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans. "Hold it right there, Supergirl."

Kara scoffed. "Really? That didn't go too well for your friend."

Someone grabbed her by the arm

Kara didn't think so much as react; she stepped into the pull then pushed at the right moment to send her attacker sprawling. Then she recognized him. "Hey, I tied you up."

"I would think they would have taught you not to use a slip knot in Girl Scouts," the man replied.

A bullet whizzed by Kara's head. 

His partner chuckled. "Stand down, Supergirl. Next time I won't..." 

The man fell as Kara knocked him out with the butt of his own gun. "You won't get another chance; not that it matters, unless the bullets are made of Kryptonite."

"What's Kryptonite?" The other man asked. He had sat up, but had his hands in the air.

Sirens wailed.

"What kind of superhero calls the cops?" he scoffed.

"The kind with backup that is going to spend the weekend teaching you how to tie a proper square knot," Winn replied in Kara's ears. "Really, Kara, slip knots?"

"National City Police!" called a gruff voice.

"We're over here," Kara called. "I have them subdued." She glared at the still conscious attacker. "Right? No trouble."

The man replied by tucking his hands behind his head.

* * *


	5. Picking Locks

Kara wasn't looking forward to going back to the DEO after her little adventure with CADMUS. She was embarrassed enough, and then Winn had sent her an email saying to come find him as soon as she was up to it.

He must've heard her come in the window, because by the time she had reached the bullpen, Winn was waiting for Kara with his arms crossed.

Kara frowned. "What's wrong?"

"The bad guys have Kryptonite," Winn said. "Earth bad guys, and they made you... what do you call it, solar flare?"

Kara threw up her arms in frustrations. "I can't not go out there because there's Kryptonite, and even my cousin has to deal with solar flares once in awhile."

Winn rolled his eyes. "I'm not saying not to go out there. I know better, but if there's Kryptonite involved there's a lot of other things you need to worry about knowing--or do you want a repeat of the first time you tried to tie up a bad guy?"

"No, but you taught me how to tie knots. What are you worried about now?"

Winn rubbed the back of his neck. "What if you need to get out of handcuffs?"

"I break the..." Kara paused, eyes growing wide. "Oh."

"Right, oh." Winn beckoned for Kara to follow him. "Also, what if you do something incredible in a locked room and you solar flare, but you can't just tie up the bad guys."

Kara frowned at Winn as he started to walk away. "I uh..."

Winn reached out for Kara's hand. "Do you know how to pick a lock, Kara?"

Kara frowned at him, shaking her head. "I would radio you for help."

"The other kind of solar flare is interfering with your ear piece." Winn stretched out his hand again, giving it an emphatic shake. 

"Where are we going?" Kara asked, falling into step.

"Training room," Winn said. "Oh, I almost forgot." He went back to his desk and picked up a box. 

Kara looked at the box as she fell into step with Winn; it was filled with different locks. "You're going to teach me how to pick locks? How do you know how to pick locks?"

Winn flushed. "Can I leave that as part of my mysterious past?"

"Nope, friends don't get to have mysterious pasts," Kara said firmly.

"Do you want to talk about it or do you want to learn to pick locks, because I'm not going to manage both." Winn quickened his pace.

Kara frowned. "This is one of those things that's going to involve a giant bottle of wine, a giant stack of chocolate, and the complete series of Red Dwarf, isn't it?"

Winn stopped and turned to her. "Yes. Actually, that sounds like exactly the sort of circumstances in which I might be able to talk about it."

Kara picked a lock from out of the box. "OK, so picking locks now, and explanations later. Please tell me you know how to get out of handcuffs."

Winn scuffed his shoes. "I might have been planning on recruiting Alex for that lesson."

Kara frowned. "I think her way involves dislocating your thumb."

"So?"

"So when I solar flare my body heals at a normal rate." Kara crossed her arms.

"So?" Winn started walking again.

"So that would hurt! A lot!" Kara rushed to catch up.

"That's better than being killed by bad guys."

Kara stopped again. Stared.

Winn shrugged. "Just sayin'."

"No, you have a point, just not one I've ever had to consider."

Winn's jaw dropped. 

"Life is very different when you're invulnerable," Kara shrugged. "So, lock picks." She started walking again.

Winn jumped. "Right, yes." He thrust the box into Kara's arms. "Ok, let me grab those, meet me in the training room and we'll get started."


	6. +1 When to Phone a Friend (So to Speak)

Things were looking grim. The latest Fort Rozz prisoner to emerge had taken prisoners in a downtown National City office building, which for some reason had more security measures than Kara had ever seen using x-ray vision before.

Winn rubbed the back of his neck and leaned back in the chair of his workstation in the bullpen. "The good news is, I'm in. The bad news is, I don't like what I see."

"I concur." J'Onn leaned on the back of Winn's chair. "That system is designed to require simultaneous entry of codes at two different stations," he pointed at the locations on the schematic of Winn's monitor, "and even with electronics to get the codes, not even Supergirl can be in two places at once."

"No, I can't." Kara stood up from the chair next to Winn's station. "This isn't a one person job."

"No, Kara." Winn spun his chair around to face her. "I can't do it by remote, and the extra footprint of someone, even if you race them in at your top speed will set off their alarms. It has to be traversed one at a time."

"I still think we need to go for a direct assault," Alex said. "They can't set off the weapon if we've knocked them all out. We're wasting time."

Kara shook her head. "From what I can tell, whoever's talking to the police is telling the truth; it takes one person hitting a button or letting go of a dead man's switch to set off that bomb and the whole thing is rigged to blow. If we get spotted too soon, two city blocks go up."

"Won't happen." Alex crossed her arms, standing up to her full height.

"No," J'Onn said. "I agree with Kara, that's too big a risk. We need another way to disarm the weapon."

"No. We need someone else to come in with me," Kara said.

"Kara, I told you." Winn stood, crossing his arms. "You're the only one fast enough to get through those alarms. Unless you want to bug your cousin, but doesn't he have some kind of UN thing today?"

"He's not the only one fast enough. J'Onn, can I have the dimensional key that I used to get back from Earth One back, please?"

"Kara?" J'Onn crossed his arms, studying Kara closely.

"We need someone fast, and Barry is a lot better at being fast than either me or Clark. And he can vibrate his hands into the bomb rather than prying that damn case off," Kara said. "Clark and I can't do that."

* * *

Kara popped out of the portal into a black room with a ramp leading up and out.

"Kara!" Barry exclaimed. He ran up to hug her. "Welcome to the speed lab. How are you doing?"

Kara hugged him, noticing a young, black man in a yellow suit shifting nervously from foot to foot, and slinking towards the door to a brightly lit corridor. "I'm doing OK, but I've got a thorny problem and I need some speedy help. I didn't meant to interrupt." 

Barry grinned. "No problem; I think I know a person or two who may be able to help with that."

"Two?" Kara asked.

The man stopped halfway to the door and turned around, grinning widely. "Hey, I'm Wally West. Also known as Kid Flash."

Kara smiled. "I'll take a two-for-one any day of the week! How do you two feel about infiltrating a Bond-style supervillian fortress to disarm a bomb while I help the DEO storm the place?"

"You ready for that, Wally?" Barry asked, walking over and draping a protective arm around Wally's neck.

Somehow, Wally's grin got _wider_. "I was born ready."

Barry clapped Wally on the back. "Come on, let's go storm the castle."

"It's more of an office building, so I think we can leave our holocaust cloaks and wheelbarrows at home," Kara said.

"It's an office building in another world," Wally said. "Let's go."

"I need to call Iris so she doesn't worry." Barry reached into his pocket and drew out his phone. He gave Wally a pointed look.

Wally rolled his eyes. "You're sticking me with calling Dad, aren't you?"

"You better believe it, buddy," Barry said. 

Wally rubbed the back of his neck with his palm. "Do we have to tell him?"

"My big sister made me call my mom to tell her that I was coming to another world and I'm only going to be gone a few minutes," Kara said. "I think you're stuck."

"Big sisters are a pain," Wally said.

"I'm telling Iris you said that," Barry replied as he held his phone to his ear. "Unless you call Joe in the next 30 seconds."

Kara was really pretty sure that Wally pulled out his phone at super speed.

End


End file.
